Author Archives: morgan

Rightwing alliance plots assault to ‘defund and defang’ public sector unions | US news | The Guardian – Defund and defang. The right does alliteration. But the real interest is in the letter and the tribal constructions it uses. – (unions politics unionization rhetoric )
Hurricane Harvey Exposes Trump’s Empathy Deficit – The Atlantic – A shot at the rhetorical situation, but a miss. The Atlantic does rhetorical analysis. – (rhetoric politics rhetorical_situation )
As Harvey Drowns Houston, Trump Struggles to Contain Himself | Vanity Fair – Who knew leadership could be so HARD! Cultural tourism can be so tedious. Especially at a distance. Look to the sequence of statements.
> Since the rain began falling, however, Trump has struggled to respond to the first natural disaster of his presidency with anything other than contrived seriousness at best, morbid fascination at worst.

> “Record setting rainfall,” Trump observed, before quickly getting in a plug for a friend’s book. “Many people are now saying that this is the worst storm/hurricane they have ever seen. Good news is that we have great talent on the ground,” he noted. “Wow – Now experts are calling #Harvey a once in 500 year flood! We have an all out effort going, and going well!” – (rhetoric politics trump )

What I’m reading 25 Aug 2017 – 28 Aug 2017

As Harvey Drowns Houston, Trump Struggles to Contain Himself | Vanity Fair – Who knew leadership could be so HARD! Cultural tourism can be so tedious. Especially at a distance. Look to the sequence of statements.
> Since the rain began falling, however, Trump has struggled to respond to the first natural disaster of his presidency with anything other than contrived seriousness at best, morbid fascination at worst.

> “Record setting rainfall,” Trump observed, before quickly getting in a plug for a friend’s book. “Many people are now saying that this is the worst storm/hurricane they have ever seen. Good news is that we have great talent on the ground,” he noted. “Wow – Now experts are calling #Harvey a once in 500 year flood! We have an all out effort going, and going well!” – (rhetoric politics trump )
What authoritarianism experts think of Trump’s decision to pardon Joe Arpaio – – (authoritarianism politics trump power )
notes very necessary || Barbara Bridger & J. R. Carpenter – > Notes Very Necessary is a collaboratively authored web-based multi-media essay that aims to addresses climate change by remixing images, text, and data generated by centuries imperialist, colonialist, capitalist, and scientific exploration in the Arctic. The title is borrowed from an essay authored in 1580 by the Englishmen Arthur Pet and Charles Jackman offering detailed instructions on how to conquer new territories by taking copious notes. In 2015 Barbara Bridger and J. R. Carpenter attempted to follow these instructions by making, finding, and faking notes, images, data, and diagrams online and reconfiguring them into a new narrative. – (DH digitallierature en3177 WCW mapping psychogeography )

What I’m reading 18 Aug 2017 – 24 Aug 2017

President Trump Shares Anti-Obama Eclipse Meme | Time.com – Semiotic misfire. Language is bigger than we are.
> The President's opponents are not above just this kind of semiotic misfire. – (meme semiotics erhetoric )
Daring Fireball: Wading Through AccuWeather’s Bullshit Response – Be aware. But be aware of the rhetorical moves of the companies that appear to grant privacy. – (privacy en3177 rhetoric )
The Week When President Trump Resigned – The New York Times – Once more into the rhetorical situation – how Trump deals with the social demand for speech.
> On Tuesday he “relinquished what presidents from Roosevelt to Reagan have regarded as a cardinal duty of their job: set a moral course to unify the nation,” wrote The Times’s Mark Landler, in what was correctly labeled a news analysis and not an opinion column. Landler’s assessment, echoed by countless others, was as unassailable as it was haunting, and it was prompted in part by Trump’s perverse response to a question that it’s hard to imagine another president being asked: Did he place the neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, Va., on the same “moral plane” as those who showed up to push back at them?

> A soft coup against a cuckoo: It confirmed how impotent Trump had become. – (trump politics rhetoric rhetorical_situation )

What I’m reading 16 Aug 2017 – 17 Aug 2017

Donald Trump’s Crisis of Legitimacy | The New Yorker – > “Trump is using the precious capital of the bully pulpit to talk about confederate monuments in between savage attacks on fellow Republicans,” Holmes, the former aide to McConnell, told Politico Playbook. “Just think about that. Not tax reform. Not repeal and replace. Not North Korean nuclear capabilities. No focused critiques on extremely vulnerable Democrats who have opposed him at every possible turn.” – (trump politics rhetoric )
Trump’s ‘On Both Sides’ Press Conference: A Key Image – The Atlantic – Spoken words are authentic words, right? – (politics rhetoric trump )
President Trump must go – The Washington Post – Significant because it doesn’t call for Trump's resignation. – (trump politics rhetorical_situation )

What I’m reading 14 Aug 2017 – 15 Aug 2017

Donald Trump, from His Tower, Rages at “the Other Side” in Charlottesville | The New Yorker – Raging against the light. > he had reduced a moral crossroads for the country to a question of naming rights. Standing in front of reporters, Trump came across as an angry man sheltered by a building bearing his own name in big, gold letters. But for how long? Tenants in some buildings have already asked to have the “Trump” taken off. Where would it stop? Would there, perhaps, never even be a statue of Donald J. Trump? – (trump politics rhetoric )
In 1939, I didn’t hear war coming. Now its thundering approach can’t be ignored | Harry Leslie Smith | Opinion | The Guardian – Specters. Not to be taken lightly.
> I recognise these omens of doom. Chilling signs are everywhere, perhaps the biggest being that the US allows itself to be led by Donald Trump, a man deficient in honour, wisdom and just simple human kindness. It is as foolish for Americans to believe that their generals will save them from Trump as it was for liberal Germans to believe the military would protect the nation from Hitler’s excesses. – (history politics trump )
Why is Trump reluctant to condemn white supremacy? It’s his racism — and his megalomania. – The Washington Post – More consideration of the rhetorical situation of Trump's Many Sides statement.
> There is a reason we generally want our presidents to speak out against racism against African Americans amid outbreaks of racial strife and violence. They are well positioned to remind the nation of our founding creed, and of our most conspicuous betrayal of it — of the historically unique experience of African Americans as targets of centuries of violent subjugation, as well as sustained domestic terrorism and deeply ingrained racism, which continues today. – (rhetoric trump rhetorical_situation )

What I’m reading 13 Aug 2017

White House Acts to Stem Fallout From Trump’s First Charlottesville Remarks – The New York Times – The press does rhetorical analysis. – (trump persuasion rhetorical_situation )
Donald Trump under fire after failing to denounce Virginia white supremacists – This account makes it clear that Trump mis-used the rhetorical moment. Didn't just miss the opportunity to condemn white supremacists but used it to normalize racism. This is not a rhetorically innocent move.
> The president said he condemned “hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides” on Saturday. He then repeated the phrase “on many sides” for emphasis. A White House spokesperson later amplified the president’s remarks, telling the Guardian: “The president was condemning hatred, bigotry and violence from all sources and all sides. There was violence between protesters and counter-protesters today.”

> But there was strong reaction to Trump’s refusal to denounce far-right extremists who had marched through the streets carrying flaming torches, screaming racial epithets and setting upon their opponents. – (politics efficacy trump rhetoric rhetorical_situation )
Trump lit the torches of white supremacy in Charlottesville. We must extinguish them. – The Washington Post – Trump tries to take naming out of debate. The conservatives make it the center of debate – by declaring the name is not open for debate.
> But this abomination that happened in Charlottesville over the weekend is not up for debate. It’s not a cultural take or a political platform. Racism, bigotry and terrorism in the name of white nationalism isn’t a “side.” It’s a poison. – (rhetoric trump categorization naming )

What I’m reading 12 Aug 2017

Trump babbles in the face of tragedy – The mainstream is raising the specter of Nazism
> this is the natural result of defining authenticity as spontaneity. Trump and his people did not believe the moment worthy of rhetorical craft, worthy of serious thought. The president is confident that his lazy musings are equal to history. They are not. They are babble in the face of tragedy. They are an embarrassment and disservice to the country.

But

> Ultimately this was not merely the failure of rhetoric or context, but of moral judgment. The president could not bring himself initially to directly acknowledge the victims or distinguish between the instigators and the dead. He could not focus on the provocations of the side marching under a Nazi flag. – (rhetoric politics trump )
Donald Trump’s incredibly unpresidential statement on Charlottesville – – (politics rhetoric trump )
Yes, Smartphones Are Destroying a Generation, But Not of Kids | JSTOR Daily – A fair analysis of a popular argument – critiquing the evidence- but weak alternative argument and lame solution. The kids aren't sad, it's the parents, so let's mentor! – (argument a )

What I’m reading 3 Aug 2017 through 10 Aug 2017

North Korea best not … – Trump remixes Truman – (linguistics )
US federal department is censoring use of term ‘climate change’, emails reveal – Just leaving a trace of the accepted terms here.
> “These records reveal Trump’s active censorship of science in the name of his political agenda,” said Meg Townsend, open government attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. – (linguistics trump rhetoric semantics )
Weblogs: Learning in Public- Jill Walker Rettberg | ETC Press – Meh become me. – (#en3177 digital_literacy blogging )

Morgan's Log

trafficking in ilusions

Author Archives: morgan

What I’m reading 13 Sep 2017 – 19 Sep 2017

What I’m reading 6 Sep 2017 – 10 Sep 2017

What I’m reading 28 Aug 2017 – 30 Aug 2017

What I’m reading 25 Aug 2017 – 28 Aug 2017

What I’m reading 18 Aug 2017 – 24 Aug 2017

What I’m reading 16 Aug 2017 – 17 Aug 2017

What I’m reading 14 Aug 2017 – 15 Aug 2017

What I’m reading 13 Aug 2017

What I’m reading 12 Aug 2017

What I’m reading 3 Aug 2017 through 10 Aug 2017